PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. — Contrary to what most North American farmers believe, finicky European food trends are not driven by consumer demand or ivory tower agencies. Instead, supermarkets pull the strings, says Michael Horsch. Horsch is best known in Western Canada for his Maestro corn planter and zero till drills, but back home in[...]

Reuters —Monsanto has secured approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a new dicamba-based weed killer designed for its next generation biotech soybean and cotton varieties, the company said. While approval had been expected, it is seen as a major step forward for the company’s newest herbicide tolerant products amid rising problems in the U.S.[...]

The vicious fight over the safety of glyphosate has become even nastier. In late October, 10 scientists who specialize in toxicology, pharmacology, genetics and related fields publicly slammed the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The authors wrote in the Journal of the International Society for Regulatory Toxicology and[...]

Nov 9 (Reuters) - U.S. seeds and agrochemicals maker Monsanto Co has secured approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a new formulation dicamba-based weed killer designed for its next generation biotech soy and cotton varieties, the company said on Wednesday. The dicamba-tolerant trait in soybeans and cotton was approved in 2015, and the[...]

The vicious fight over the safety of glyphosate has become even nastier. In late October, 10 scientists who specialize in toxicology, pharmacology, genetics and related fields publicly slammed the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The authors wrote in the journal of the International Society for Regulatory Toxicology and[...]

I am sometimes asked to look at cereal crops in the spring that have been seeded on fields treated with burn-off herbicides containing residual products such as florasulam and metsulfuron. These products are often added to a glyphosate product to improve control of dandelions, narrow-leafed hawk’s beard and wild buckwheat and provide up to three[...]

Yet another study is refuting the idea that glyphosate causes cancer. In a paper published online in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, four independent panels of experts looked at the relevant research on glyphosate and whether it’s carcinogenic. The group of 16 scientists, from Canada, the United States, Denmark, Brazil and the United Kingdom and other[...]

Canadians and farmers may not know it, but the federal government does track the use of pesticides. In 2007, Health Canada and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency began publishing data on herbicide, insecticide and fungicide sales, following the passage of the Pest Control Products Act in 2006. The act included a provision on reporting and[...]

Significant sclerotinia pressure was evident in many prairie crops this summer, spurred on by excess moisture. “Sclerotinia is one of those diseases we are going to see higher incidence when conditions are more conducive,” says Barbara Ziesman, a plant disease specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture. “Unfortunately, this year had very favourable conditions throughout the province.” Sclerotinia inoculant[...]

A large American study has found genetically modified crops have dramatically increased the amount of herbicides applied to soybeans. As well, data from Alberta suggest that GM crops have had an even greater impact in Western Canada, as the amount of herbicide sold in the province nearly doubled from 2003 to 2013. The provincial government,[...]

Surfactants have been in common use for decades, but the idea of adding a vegetable oil deposition adjuvant to improve droplet size, enhance coverage and reduce drift is still relatively new. When a deposition adjuvant is doing its job, more of the droplets are of a uniform size and they are closer in size to[...]

Yet another study is refuting the idea that glyphosate causes cancer. In a paper published online today in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, four independent panels of experts looked at the relevant research on glyphosate and whether it's carcinogenic. The group of 16 scientists, from Canada, the United States, Denmark, Brazil and the United Kingdom and[...]

Cutting sprayer fill times in half would significantly improve farmers’ bottom lines, says a spraying systems engineer. Syngenta researcher Doug Baumann has developed and proofed a mathematical model showing how a producer can fill a 1,200 gallon sprayer in six to eight minutes. He said optimizing fill time is the easiest way for farmers to[...]

Preventing the spread of herbicide resistant weeds does not have to be a daunting task, according to an expert. “It starts with one field and it starts today,” said Kate Sanford Mitchell, project manager for North American canola, pulses and cereals at Bayer. She said growers can make small agronomic changes one field at a time to[...]

CHICAGO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday said its current position on glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto Co's Roundup herbicide, is that the chemical is not likely carcinogenic to humans. The agency's "proposed" position on the controversial chemical was outlined in a 227-page paper it published on the regulations.gov[...]